We have been waiting for weeks to share some GREAT news with all of you, but we had to wait until the state officially released testing results and accountability data. It’s a wonderful day to be a part of Wilson County Schools as we celebrate our students, teachers and staff for their hard work. I am so pleased with the progress and know it will continue.

Like large ships, school systems do not turn around quickly. We have begun the process to turn our ship toward excellence when it comes to school performance. Change is happening and thanks to our students and staff, we are celebrating these accomplishments:

· We are NO longer a low performing district! Our students and teachers worked hard during the 2016-17 school year to improve performance in our classrooms, and we applaud them.

· 16 of our 26 schools met or exceeded growth compared with 12 schools in 2015-16, which means more of our students are meeting or exceeding expectations for their academic performance.

· We doubledthe number of schools exceeding growth in 2016-17. In 2015-16, 4 schools exceeded growth and in 2016-17, we had 8 schools that exceeded growth. Exceeding growth means that our students are gaining more than a year’s worth of learning for a year spent in school.

· The state also assigns letter grades to schools based on performance. In 2015-16, 11 out of 24 schools earned a C or higher (45 percent). For 2016-17, 56 percent of our schools earned a C or higher. We so proud of the Wilson Early College Academy for maintaining its "A"status; as well as, Rock Ridge Elementary and New Hope Elementary for earning a "B."

· Vinson-Bynum Elementary and Elm City Elementary showed huge progress and exceeded growth for 2016-17 after having not met growth in 2015-16. The percentage of students achieving at grade level at Vinson-Bynum increased by 14 percent and by nearly 13 percent at Elm City. These were the largest percentage increases in the district.

While I realize there is more good news that can be shared, we do not want to get lost in the numbers. Behind every test score is a student, a dedicated staff member and a story. Data only paints a portion of the total picture of the hard work being done each day in our classrooms. We want to thank our WCS Family for being a part of the positive change! In case you can’t tell, I am so proud of all of our WCS Family!

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